Subretinal injections have been successfully used in both humans and rodents to deliver therapeutic interventions of proteins, viral agents, and cells to the interphotoreceptor/subretinal compartment that has direct exposure to photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Subretinal injections of plasminogen as well as recent preclinical and clinical trials have demonstrated safety and/or efficacy of delivering viral vectors and stem cells to individuals with advanced retinal disease. Mouse models of retinal disease, particularly hereditary retinal dystrophies, are essential for testing these therapies. The most common injection procedure in rodents is to use small transcorneal or transcleral incisions with an anterior approach to the retina. With this approach, the injection needle penetrates the neurosensory retina disrupting the underlying RPE and on insertion can easily nick the lens, causing lens opacification and impairment of noninvasive imaging. Accessing the subretinal space via a transcleral, posterior approach avoids these problems: the needle crosses the sclera approximately 0.5 mm from the optic nerve, without retinal penetration and avoids disrupting the vitreous. Collateral damage is limited to that associated with the focal sclerotomy and the effects of a transient, serous retinal detachment. The simplicity of the method minimizes ocular injury, ensures rapid retinal reattachment and recovery, and has a low failure rate. The minimal damage to the retina and RPE allows for clear assessment of the efficacy and direct effects of the therapeutic agents themselves. This manuscript describes a novel subretinal injection technique that can be used to target viral vectors, pharmacological agents, stem cells or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to the subretinal space in mice with high efficacy, minimal damage, and fast recovery.
States across the Global South have witnessed historic privatization of their migration systems over the last few decades. This article explores the cultural and cognitive processes through which migrants make sense of and navigate a broker‐centric migration system. Based on 224 interviews and 15 months of fieldwork across Vietnam—a country whose migration system is reliant on migrant brokers—this article examines how migrants develop and deploy broker wisdom, a unique cultural schema, where migrants refashion migrant brokerage activity to be more legible and subsequently manipulable. I first show how migrants mobilize distinct forms of everyday resistance to make sense of and navigate migrant brokerage. I then explore how the development and deployment of broker wisdom have implications for migrant brokerage and Vietnam's broader migration project. This article contributes to international migration, economic sociology, social movements, cultural sociology, and labor scholarships.
Second-generation assimilation outcomes have been hotly debated amongst migration scholars. While there is a general tendency in the literature to emphasize the positive outcomes of ethnic religious organizational participation, this article explores how some youth downwardly assimilate even though they actively take part in such organizations. This project, on the greater Seattle area Vietnamese Buddhist youth organizations, explores how organizations of various forms, and the peer groups formed within these organizations, play a crucial role in mobility outcomes. Based on 53 interviews with second-generation Vietnamese Americans, this study shows how participation in organizations that are based on horizontal peer groups can result in various assimilation outcomes including the creation of oppositional youth cultures, while organizations centered on vertical intergenerational groups can induce normative values. This article suggests migration scholars refocus on studying the processes that lead to different assimilation outcomes.
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